Some of you may have seen these on eBay. They are probably among the last of the classic era NYC shaving brushes, made some time in the 1980s by Ascher Brush, which had used the Century name for decades but shut down in 1989.
This is described as a 22mm "pure badger" brush. I bought a box of six, each of which came wrapped in tissue paper and inside an unlabeled gold tone presentation box, not unlike how Simpson brushes are sold. I opened one to use yesterday, and it is not at all what I expected from the description.
For one, it's really big. The handle is 55mm tall and 40mm in diameter. It's the size of a Vulfix 41 handle, or as big around as a Simpson Chubby 2 and considerably taller. Here it is next to some other brushes I had immediately at hand, which should be familiar enough to provide some scale. I've already used it and let it dry, and this is how it is currently bloomed.
For two, this is no cheap plastic handle. It's real hand-turned resin, solid and heavy and complete with tool marks on the base. Hard to see but I did my best to capture them with my phone camera. It also means they are not totally flawless like a machine-made handle would be. The ones I opened to look at all had at least one "beauty mark" of some sort. This one has a little mole near the bristles, the size of the period at the end of this sentence.
For three, it has really high quality hair. It came in with no funky badger smell and is about as prickly as my super badger, which is to say not at all when in use. It also splays like my super badger. Doesn't take much pressure to flatten it.
The only problem is that there isn't quite enough of it. It's made in the American style - 22mm knot with a 54mm loft. And just a little on the sparse side compared to what's being made now.
I know that's not what shaving hobbyists are commonly looking for when shopping for brushes nowadays. This handle could be bored out to 26mm - with its flat shoulders it has plenty of room to hold one - and it would want a knot of at least the same quality it has now. Would be a terrible shame to waste the nice knot that's in it, but I can see how one would want to swap. I might do that with one of the other brushes in the box.
The seller has lots left if you want six of them at a time, and they are extremely reasonably priced for what they are. I might sell a couple out of my box on BST later. Either way, this one is going into the rotation as is.
This is described as a 22mm "pure badger" brush. I bought a box of six, each of which came wrapped in tissue paper and inside an unlabeled gold tone presentation box, not unlike how Simpson brushes are sold. I opened one to use yesterday, and it is not at all what I expected from the description.
For one, it's really big. The handle is 55mm tall and 40mm in diameter. It's the size of a Vulfix 41 handle, or as big around as a Simpson Chubby 2 and considerably taller. Here it is next to some other brushes I had immediately at hand, which should be familiar enough to provide some scale. I've already used it and let it dry, and this is how it is currently bloomed.
For two, this is no cheap plastic handle. It's real hand-turned resin, solid and heavy and complete with tool marks on the base. Hard to see but I did my best to capture them with my phone camera. It also means they are not totally flawless like a machine-made handle would be. The ones I opened to look at all had at least one "beauty mark" of some sort. This one has a little mole near the bristles, the size of the period at the end of this sentence.
For three, it has really high quality hair. It came in with no funky badger smell and is about as prickly as my super badger, which is to say not at all when in use. It also splays like my super badger. Doesn't take much pressure to flatten it.
The only problem is that there isn't quite enough of it. It's made in the American style - 22mm knot with a 54mm loft. And just a little on the sparse side compared to what's being made now.
I know that's not what shaving hobbyists are commonly looking for when shopping for brushes nowadays. This handle could be bored out to 26mm - with its flat shoulders it has plenty of room to hold one - and it would want a knot of at least the same quality it has now. Would be a terrible shame to waste the nice knot that's in it, but I can see how one would want to swap. I might do that with one of the other brushes in the box.
The seller has lots left if you want six of them at a time, and they are extremely reasonably priced for what they are. I might sell a couple out of my box on BST later. Either way, this one is going into the rotation as is.
